home-cooking

5 Reasons Why You Should Make the Pioneer Woman's Pot Roast Tonight

If there's one recipe Food Network star Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman likes to make most often it has to be the pot roast. Simple and full of flavor, Ree recently sat down withSouthern Living and shared that her idea of a perfect weeknight meal is a pot roast dinner, and we agree.

A perfect pot roast served with mashed potatoes is our idea of comfort food. In fact, here's five reasons why you should add The Pioneer Woman's pot roast to your weekly dinner rotation.

One of the best things about cooking up a pot roast is that it has a short prep time. Starting off with a 3-pound roast or even a 5-pound roast, olive oil is added to a Dutch oven and heated over high heat. Once the oil is nice and hot, the roast is added to the hot pot and seared to get a great color.

Once the outside of the roast is seared, remove it from the pot and add in halved onions or even button mushrooms and cook until nice and golden brown. After the vegetables are browned, and the pan is deglazed with red wine, the meat is added back along with beef stock and fresh herbs such as rosemary and fresh thyme.

After that, it's either into the oven or a slow cooker where it is to cook for a few hours, undisturbed.

Unlike the high prices you can expect to pay for a cut of filet mignon or even a ribeye, pot roast is best prepared with tougher cuts of meat like chuck roast , brisket and round.

The tougher the meat, the better the pot roast-and there's a science behind it. When cooked low and slow, the collagen in the meat breaks down into gelatin and turns the cooking liquid into a smooth sauce along with tenderizing the meat.

Wether you use a slow cooker or braise the pot roast in the oven, the cooking time for the best pot roast is going to be long. But we can't complain once the fall-apart tender roast is on the table.

For ease of cooking, plan your meal out the day before and set a time when you want to have dinner the next day. Deduct the amount of hours it will take to prep and cook then plan on starting your roast at that time. A little planning goes a long way.

5. It's been an American classic since the 19th century.

A post shared by ashleynicole. (@ashhnuge) on Dec 31, 2017 at 2:49pm PST

Known as the Yankee Pot Roast, possibly as a joke towards New England frugality, the method of slow cooking tough cuts of meat have been embedded in our American bones.

Looking to make your own pot roast this week? Try out The Pioneer Woman's special pot roast made with chuck roast, onions, carrots, red wine, beef stock and a helping of fresh thyme and rosemary. It'll knock your socks off.